Light of Shinzo
by Mushraluvr
Summary: Finding the hurt girl, Hikari, was only the beginning of this new adventure. What happens when time re-writes itself and things change? What memories do they keep, and what new ones will they gain? How can they help each other? All answers lie in Shinzo.
1. Failure

**Summary (The actually good one that doesn't have a limit on characters I can use): **

He found her half-dead in the forest. She hides behind a wall of secrets that the others don't seem to notice as easily as he does. Yakumo seems to be the most oblivious of all, or just doesn't bring it up. After all, this girl knows about Shinzo. How could she afford to hurt this girl's feelings by bringing up unwanted subjects? The girl is obviously struggling with some inner conflict, but does well to hide or ignore it to bring another smile to the group, but with that smile also comes more dangers. Why is she now a target of their enemies? Is it because she knows of Shinzo, or is it for a different reason entirely?

**First chapter! I've gone back and re-written this already. Now I'm just bored and correcting errors. Go back and reading this, I'm still not satisfied. I was when I finished, but now I'm not. My standards for my own writing are constantly growing more demanding. Anywho, on to the disclaimer:**

**Mushra: Why do you even do these? If you actually held the rights to Shinzo you wouldn't be writing fanfiction. They'd see it on their TV screens.**

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The Light of Shinzo

Chapter 1

Failure

"Takashi, Seru! Hang on!" A blast echoed throughout the otherwise quiet forest. A group of birds seeking safety flew from their roosting spot, their chirps rising above the noise as they rose.

"You can't possibly hope to save them." A beam of dark purple energy shot upwards toward the dim morning sky. As it thinned and dissipated a bird that had been in the way of its destructive path fell back to the canopy of green. It landed a few feet away from a boy and a girl, who were trapped in a translucent, purple sphere. The dark haired teens were pounding their fists on the inside of the prison as they watched the battle unfold before them.

In a small clearing surrounded by beaten trees, stood a girl and a dark figure. The girl's breaths came out heavily through her pink lips. Her medium-length, chestnut hair stuck to the back of her neck and cheeks with sweat. The gold circlet on her forehead reflected the spots of sunlight that shone through the trees. A fierce look was in her blue eyes as she glared at the figure in front of her. Her grip around her gold quarterstaff tightened as he let out a dark chuckle.

The figure seemed to be cloaked in a dark aura, maliciousness seeming to radiate from him. He glanced toward the two in captivity behind him with power hungry, battle ready crimson eyes.

"You failed," he mocked in his dark, deep voice. "Give up and accept your defeat."

He extended his palm toward her and a large purple orb shot toward her with alarming speed. The girl jumped up and out of the way. The attack zoomed beneath her and hit the tree behind her. As she was in the air, she raised the blade edge of her staff above her head. She brought it down to meet the ground where the figure was standing only a second before. She looked up to see him leaned against the sphere that was holding the two teens. The long haired girl glared up at him with her clear, purple eyes. The spiky haired boy gritted his teeth in anger and closed his eyes, which were identical to the girl's.

"Why keep this up? You're only hurting yourself," a loud crack behind her made her gasp as he added, "and others." The tree that had been hit a moment before had a large indention in its trunk. A large crack was spreading its way around as the tree swayed threateningly. Luckily, it began to lean away from them. It cracked more and groaned with effort as it leaned more and began to fall. The bushes cushioned its fall a bit and kept it from echoing, but the crash was still mind numbing as it shook the forest floor.

"As usual," the man added after the last had branch cracked, "you can't seem to help anyone."

"Shut up!" she screamed in rage. "I'm not giving up to you!" She threw her staff at him. He tried to dodge, but hadn't made it in time. The blade pierced the top of his shoulder and pinned him to the tree behind him. A red stain began to form around the point of impact.

"I'm not done yet." The girl's body began to glow with a soft light. "Angel's Light!" The energy began to flow faster as she prepared to transform. The man smirked.

He pulled the staff out of his shoulder with rapid speed as a black orb formed in his other hand. It had a purple fog around it and was surrounded by black, electric jolts. He jumped up and ran toward jabbing the orb through her chest. A black beam shot out from her back when it hit. The light around the girl immediately faded. When he removed his hand she fell to her knees, clutching her chest. Her eyes were wide in pain and surprise, her body trembling violently.

"W-what did y-" her meek stuttering was cut off when a round of coughs shook her form. She fell forward onto her hands. She coughed louder and blood sputtered out of her mouth, decorating the ground between her hands in crimson speckles. She remained still, trying to calm the tremors that racked her body.

"I sealed your powers," he gloated. "You can't heal yourself or go into hyper mode." He walked past her, towards the two hostages. A round, swirling vortex of black and silver opened near him. "Now if you don't mind, I'll take these two with me." The girl extended a hand to him weakly.

"Wait!" she called. Her eyes pleaded him. "Leave them alone. Take me instead." The man smirked as he watched her beg.

"You have no idea how I wish to, but I can't," he sighed disappointedly.

"Why not?" She was on the verge of tears. She was desperate.

"Your element resists my control. They, on the other hand..." He looked down at the two captives. They stared at the girl with pain filled eyes as they pressed their palms against the prison wall. The man looked back at the girl. Without another word he stepped through the portal, the sphere following behind.

The girl watched with dismay as the portal shrank and disappeared. She fell on her side and gazed at the spot where the three had left. The tears from earlier slid down her dirty cheeks.

"No," she murmured quietly to herself. "Not them. Please, no." She continued to stare at the spot, with a forlorn hopelessness in her eyes. Her eyelids slowly closed over her watery sapphire orbs.

**69696969696969696969**

The group had set up camp near a river. The clear water reflected the mid-day sun off its glimmering surface. On the other sides, they were flanked by woods. They had set up their three tents around some logs and a campfire. Kutall was currently cooking a steaming stew as Yakumo, Binka, and Saago played in the river with the kittens. Mushra was asleep on a high branch of the nearest tree.

"Hmm... This won't do at all," Kutall silently mused to himself as he poked the fire with a stick. "Mushra!" The sound of his name startled the teen. He sat up too quickly and almost lost his balance.

"Mushra!" Kutall called again after he didn't receive an answer.

"What?!" the young Enterran demanded. He did not take too kindly to being awoken from his nap.

"Go get me some firewood," the large cat-Enterran ordered. "We won't have a proper lunch otherwise."

Mushra groaned in protest but nodded. He whistled and jumped from his branch, his feet meeting his hover board without falter.

"Fine, fine." he grumbled as he sped off down the trail.

After the camp had left his sight, he sped up. The wind blew at his face and his normal grin returned to greet the world. He looped in the air once and smiled. He loved even the simplest of tricks; being upside-down, even for brief moments, was his favorite. He could see the world from a different perspective. He grinned and jumped into a front flip, stopping halfway through a second rotation, his feet landing on the board that was now above him. He looked around, surveying his topsy-turvy world.

"Now where is some firewood?" he asked to no one in particular.

He righted himself and began his search again. Then, he spotted a long, thick branch jutting out from the middle of a tree. He grinned at the challenge. His speed picked up as he neared it. He jumped into the air with a back flip and landed on the branch in a handstand. He prepared to push off the branch, abut it snapped along an already growing crack he failed to notice. He tried to force himself back into the air, but didn't get too far. His foot landed on the board at an angle and slipped. The silver board shot off and landed in a bush as he landed ungracefully on his butt.

"Ouch," Mushra complained. "That wasn't too fun." He got up and ran to where his board had landed. He pushed through the green shrub and froze in shock. He was in a small clearing surrounded by trees. Many were beaten and scratched, while some had blood spatters on them. A large, thick one had fallen over at a crack in its trunk. Everything looked as if there had been some sort of explosion.

He spotted something in the middle of the clearing. It looked to be a heap of clothing at first, but upon closer inspection, he found a girl. Her light chestnut hair was tangled and matted with splotches of blood. Her smooth creamy cheeks were tear-stained and dirty. Her upper arms were covered in bruises, cuts, and dirt. The aqua shirt that was netted at the top was torn and dirty. Her black capris were no different. Upon her forehead was a gold circlet, much like his Crown of Cora.

"What the heck happened here?" he asked in amazement. He stared at the girl. His lips were drawn and his eyes were in concentration. He noticed the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Bringing his thumb and index finger to his lips, he let out a shrill whistle. His board flew towards him with its regular hum. He bent down and picked the girl up gently in his arms. As he stood up, she groaned. He looked at her face. Her eyes were partially closed, but she was looking at him.

"Please," she whispered weakly. Her voice was low and rough. Mushra seemed surprised she spoke. He nodded once and jumped on his board. The girl closed her eyes again as he sped back toward camp.

**Okay. I'm finished with it now. I'm going back and re-uploading chapters to correct grammar and spelling mistakes. The only major changes will be to chapter 2, so don't worry about re-reading if you already read them, though you might want to take another look at chapter two. It's not that important, but do what you want.**

**Please review, the guardians smile on upon it.**

**~Mushraluvr**


	2. Awaken to new friends

**Well, this is the re-done version of chapter two. This **_**was**_** my oldest written chapter and I had a few story errors in there. If you've already read it, you don't have to re-read, but I did change good bit of the dialogue so some things will make a lot more sense later on. I just needed to do it so it not only sounded better, but makes for a better foundation for my plot I have going in my head. If you haven't read this chapter already, I hope you enjoy the improved chapter way more than you would have the old one. I'm also glad you're reading my story. I bet you're tired of reading this now, so . . .**

**Disclaimer: What the heck?! What do you mean? I **_**don't **_**own Shinzo?! **_**:cries in a corner:**_

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The Light of Shinzo

Chapter 2

Awaken to New Friends

_Darkness. As far as the eye could see, was a blanket of darkness. Running footsteps echoed throughout the blackness. A glow shone softly through fog of what seemed to be nothing. The footsteps continued, accompanied by the sound of heavy breathing._

_She's was running, whether from or toward something could not be said. Maybe it was both. The small girl continued to run, silent tears streaming down her face._

_Ahead of her, was a light at the end of the tunnel (if you could call the dark, emptiness around her that). Two figures stood in the light: a young boy and girl. The running child looked up, her eyes filled with hope. She ran faster, toward the two. _

_But they never drew closer. Frightened, the girl called out, but her voice was lost. She panicked, and sped up, but it was in vain. The light and the two seemed to be receding faster than she can run. _

_Then, they were gone - too far away to see anymore. She fell to her knees and cried, her long, chestnut hair covering her face. _

_Sensing something, she looked up. Against the blackness, a tall shadow stood before her, glaring down at her with crimson eyes. A victorious gleam shone in the frightening orbs._

_She stared in amazement and horror, frozen. The shadow covered her, drowning her in itself. She struggled, trying to push it away from her with flailing arms, but the shadow could not be escaped from so easily _

_When she opened her eyes again, the shadow was gone. The universe -with all its stars and planets dotting the vastness- had spread itself out before her, stars glittering out in the distance. She slowly swiveled her head around, surveying the amazing heavens, until she spotted a woman. Her sky-blue hair was long and wavy, flowing down her back over a pair of golden wings. Her clothes, a white top with black bottoms and golden armor, along with her beautiful wings gave her the presence of an angel. _

_The angelic woman smiled softly as she drifted nearer to the child, who stared at her, curiosity in her large, sapphire eyes. The woman gently folded her arms around her; a single salty tear streaked a path down her porcelain cheeks. The small girl slightly pushed away, to look up at the sad stranger. With a small, tender finger she reached up and wiped the tear away. The corners of the woman's lips curved upward gently as she studied the girl's worried face. _

_Then, from behind her back, she pulled out an orb that looked to be made out of a golden light. She brought it close to the child's face, allowing the small girl to examine it. The girl, mesmerized by the strange object, tentatively reached out with both of her tiny hands and gently picked it up. The woman, slowly taking the girl's hands with her own, pushed them to the child's chest, over her heart. The glowing sphere disappeared into her chest with a bright light. Confused, the girl looked up at the woman, who responded with a soft kiss on her forehead. Another tear ran down her cheek as she released the girl from her gentle embrace and began to fade away into the distance. _

_The sky around the girl swirled in a torrent. When they stopped, she looked around. She herself had become a young woman, around 15 years old. Her long chestnut hair was now shorter, stopping at her shoulder blades. _

_Once again, there were stars all around her. She could see several golden-winged figures emitting a golden aura of power. They surrounded a large, dark figure. They seemed to have him immobilized by their strong aura. They were at a stand-still, a dark tension hovering in the air. She watched in wonder until she felt suddenly overwhelmed by an even greater presence. She turned in time to see another golden-winged person surrounded by a stronger, brighter aura zoom past her, toward the one held captive. They collided in a burst of blinding light. She closed her eyes to the brightness. When she opened them again, all had vanished._

_For a moment she didn't realize she was falling; there was nothing around her to suggest movement. It wasn't until she felt a sinking sensation that she snapped out of her daze to realize it. Above her, on the surface, was the woman from before, a sad, heart-broken smile on her face as she watched the girl sink into the black waters, her breath trailing behind her in shimmery bubbles. The girl closed her eyes as she sank, letting the nothingness of the waters surround her, stripping away all emotions and senses. The comforting nothing lulled her into state of itself: no emotions, no feelings, and no thoughts. Her mind was in a soothing swirl of absence, the turmoil washed away by the welcoming, black waters._

_When it seemed as if she would fall forever (not that she cared, one way or the other), she was caught._

_Slowly, as if awakening from sleep, she opened her eyes. She was in a hall, the side walls made up of red, blue, yellow, black, and white streams of light. At the curved ceiling, they blended together in waves. The floor was solid glass, but rippled wherever water drops fell from the ceiling of rainbow waves. Both ends of the hall led to a deep darkness, surrounded by a heavy fog. A strange, ominous but soothing tune seemed to come from all around. Sung by children voices, it had no words that she recognized, the odd syllables seeming to be more of repetition of one line than a whole song. _

_While taking all this in, she failed to notice that she was being held. Slowly, she looked up to her rescuer's face. He was a young male, around her age. He had short hair with long bangs on either side of his face. On his forehead, he wore a golden tiara that came to a rounded point above the bridge of his nose. In the middle was a large, cobalt gem. He wore the same clothes as the golden-winged people she saw earlier. When she tilted her head to look behind his shoulder, she saw he also had a beautiful pair of wings in the same golden color**.**_

_"Are you okay?" he asked in a smooth, calming voice, making her look into his eyes. They were a piercing sky-blue. She was speechless for a moment._

_"Can't you talk anymore?" He shifted her a bit as he sat down, allowing her to sit up in his lap, wrapping an arm around her back for support._

_"U-m, ah." She couldn't think of anything to say to the strange boy._

_"Hey," he said with a warm smile, "you don't have to be frightened. I won't harm you."_

_His smile must've made her feel more secure, because she was able to ask, "W-who are you?"_

_"I'm a friend," he replied with a happy glint in his eye, "or maybe something more. I guess you could consider me a guardian angel."_

_The girl was quiet, thinking this over. As she pondered over the meaning of his words, the boy closed his sky-blue eyes and started humming softly to himself, in tune with the background song. His soothing voice brought her attention to not only the song, but the rest of their surroundings as well. Her thoughts on his previous words were completely forgotten as she asked, "Where are we?"_

_He stopped humming and opened his eyes to look at her. He stared at her for a moment before answering, "Were in the Gateway:" his smile vanished, and he averted her gaze with sad eyes, "the Gateway between Real and Non-Existence." _

_The sad look in his eyes worried her. It doesn't help your thoughts of a strange new place if the only other person there seems so miserable. The despair held in his eyes almost made her hurt to look at them._

_"What's that?" she asked quietly, trying to figure out what cause him such pain._

_"The Gateway or the worlds themselves?" he asked dully._

_"I just want to know what kind of place I'm in, but I am more concerned as to **how** I got here."_

_"Well, the best place to start is the worlds." he took a quick moment to gather his thoughts and continued, his voice and expression a little less depressing. "The World of Real is obviously where everything that exists is located. That's where you can find all the universes and there worlds." She nodded in understanding._

_"Then what's the World of Non-Existence? If something doesn't exist, then how can it be in a world? Wouldn't that be existing?"_

_"It's not as complicated as you would think." he said with a small chuckle. The girl smiled mentally to herself, glad that she was able to take his mind off whatever it was that had upset him so greatly. "The World of Non-Existence is filled with those things that haven't existed or have stopped existing in the World of Real. See, if somebody were to die, they would still exist, because they exist in earlier timelines of the World of Real. All ideas that were ever thought of were once in the world of Non-Existence. Once it's thought up, it exists, so it can't stay there and moves to the World of Real. Also, under certain circumstances, something may be sent there from the World of Real if it might destroy that world. The timeline is rewritten; according to what it would be like if the thing never existed at all, which is exactly the case. This is the gateway that is used to travel between those worlds." He looked back down at her from his thoughts. "Ah, did that confuse you?"_

_"Actually, not much," she admitted, a deep thoughtfulness in her sapphire eyes. "I just have one question?"_

_"What's that?" he asked, curious._

_"Why are **you **in-between them?" The lonely despair that reappeared in his eyes made her immediately regret asking._

_"I am half of a whole. This half of me was given up and destroyed for a greater good. I don't belong in The World of Real, because I am no longer there; but I can't go to The World of Non-Existence, because my other half **is** real. If I never existed, neither would he. Also if this half had not existed, the timeline would rewrite itself and my whole would have never made the sacrifice in the first place, thus I would still exist, but the timeline wouldn't rewrite itself because I would still exist. They nullify each other to where it's impossible for me to not exist."_

_"I get it, sort of, but what happened to get you here?"_

_He looked straight into her eyes, with an understanding smile. She was caught off guard at how distant they seemed to be. "It's a long story," he replied. "Besides, I could ask you the same question."_

_"Eh?" she asked, pointing to herself, though she and he were the only ones there. She thought for a moment. "I don't really know. I wonder . . ."_

_"Why you're existing but not?" he finished for her. She nodded her head slightly. "The question is, 'Did you ever exist in the first place?'"_

_"Well of course I d-" she stopped. "Did I?"_

_"Why are you doubting yourself?" he asked, the tone in his voice indicated he might've known more than he let on._

_"Well, maybe I'm imagining all these memories." She looked down, contemplating._

_"Why would they be made up?" he asked, that same teacher-like tone in his voice._

_"Because they're too awful to be real." She sighed, and her lips turned into a worried frown. He lifted her chin with his free hand so he could see her eyes. _

_"Life can seem like a nightmare, when it's not so dreamy," he said comfortingly. "Don't you remember anything that was worth living for?"_

_"Yeah," a gentle smile graced her lips as her mind traveled backwards, "my friends were always there for me. We had a lot of fun, but . . ." Her smile vanished as she trailed off._

_"But what?" he coaxed gently._

_A tear fell from her eyes as she stared straight ahead, trying to hold back more that were threatening to spill. The boy's eyes held sympathy and hurt for her. His weak smile was one of patience. Pulling his arms around her, he let her rest her head on his chest as salty tears gushed from her sapphire orbs in two streams, dripping down her face. He rubbed her back gently as she cried silent tears into his chest. _

_"It's all gone, now! All our fun times, our laughing, our fighting, their smiles; It's all gone!" Her companion remained silent and continued rubbing small circles on her back. She continued, her voice starting to take on a tone of anger, "I was having the time of my life, then **'He'** had to come along and ruin it! He took away the ones I treasured most, and all I could do was stand and watch! I should've protected them, but I couldn't. I've lost my powers. I'm **useless!**" She cried harder, trying to hold back sobs. He lifted his other hand and stoked her head softly._

_"It's okay," he whispered soothingly into her hair. "It's okay to just cry. I'm here. Just cry." She did. He held her close, cradling her as if she were a small child, soothing her anger and coaxing the cleansing tears. _

_After a while, with red eyes and tear-stained cheeks, she sat quietly in his lap, her head resting on his chest. "Maybe," she said in a quiet, tired voce, "they'd be a lot better off if I didn't exist. They wouldn't be in this mess. Time would rewrite itself and they'd have never met me."_

_"Do you think that's true?" he asked, disappointment in his words._

_"Maybe. It just makes me kind of sad that I won't see them." She added in a thoughtful voice, " I wonder if I'll remember them if I didn't exist."_

_"Too bad you won't figure out." The dark tone in his voice made her look up at him. She almost jumped at the serious resolution in his eyes. She looked away, but he brought her chin up with his hand so their eyes met._

_"Every life is worth living. I won't let you give up! Don't you think they might enjoy having you as a friend? If they **are **your friends, they don't care about the bad times. They want you to be with them." The girl was speechless, too shocked to respond. _

_Realizing his actions, he quickly let go of her chin and looked away. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I just don't want you to give up. A lot more than you think is affected by one person's existence. Just because something horrible happens or you lose your powers doesn't mean you should give up so easily. Besides," this time he lifted her chin gently and smiled sincerely, "you still have to keep that promise to one other friend."_

_"What promise?" she asked earnestly. _

_"You really **have **forgotten, haven't you?" His smiled seemed to come from the remembrance of some unknown joke, his eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Oh well, I half-knew this would happen. Your memories will come sooner or later."_

_"What memories? Am I forgetting something?" A distressed frown found its way to her lips._

_Seeing this he lifted the corners of her lips with his fingers, giving her a goofy half-smile. He grinned jokingly. "Don't worry. You'll understand it all within good time. It's too much right now."_

_"Okay," she sighed, but his grin brought one to her own face. They both laughed out loud. After a few minutes of just laughing, they finally quieted back down._

_"You feeling better?" he asked._

_"Yeah, thank you." She smiled brightly, her spirits lifted by the laughter._

_"Anytime!" He saluted, and tried to hold a straight face. It broke when her giggling caused him to start another round of laughter. After a moment, it subsided into almost quietness, the girl unable to contain left over giggles. Then, she remembered something._

_"Ahh, so do you know how to get out of here?" She moved from his lap and stood up, looking around. He stood up beside her._

_"For you I do. I'm sort of stuck here for a while." She turned to face him, sympathy in her eyes._

_"That's awful. Don't you get lonely?" Looking at the golden-winged boy, it was hard for her to imagine how alone he's been in this place. How could someone like him be **here** anyways? He looked much too strong-willed for that._

_"Yeah, but don't be concerned. I have a plan." He winked, trying to reassure her._

_"And that is?" He put a finger to her lips._

_"It's secret." He grinned a Cheshire-cat grin, which made her decide not to bother._

_"So how do I get out?" she asked, bringing her previous worries back to the light._

_"Wake up," he instructed her, saying it as if it were the simplest thing in the world._

_"I'm asleep?!" she asked in disbelief._

_"Well, now that you know you want to exist, your mind just has to follow." The confused look on her face prompted him to say, "All you have to do now, if you really and truly want to be part of that world, is want to leave."_

_"Okay." She was quiet a moment. "Hey, if you **do** get out, will I see you again?" She looked up at him with a look in her sapphire eyes that made her slightly resemble a lost puppy. He hugged her._

_"Someday," he said quietly in her ear. "I may not know it's you, and you may not know it's me - at first, but we'll meet again." _

_"Promise?" she asked, pulling back so she could look him in the eyes._

_"Promise," he reassured her. Her mind seemed to be drifting. "Now hurry. There are people for you to meet. Don't worry, you'll be alright." His promise showed in his smile. "One more thing: The light is always closer than you think, no matter how dark it is. Never forget that, Hikari." He poked forehead above her tiara, playfully with cheerful grin._

_"How do you-" Before she could finish, a blinding light shone from them and everything was flooded with its brightness._

"Hey! I think she's waking up!"

Confused by the squeaky voice, she slowly opened her heavy blue eyes. Her blurred vision told her she was looking at the top of a tent. She stared dumbly for a moment at the tan cloth. Then, her mind finally able to send messages to the rest of her groggy body, she slightly turned her head to the right, her chestnut hair falling away from her face, and spied a small, blonde cat-Enterran with big, sapphire eyes. She seemed to be the source of the voice.

As the girl tried to sit up, planning to inspect her unfamiliar surroundings, the tent flap opened and a young woman with brown hair and kind blue eyes walked in. She looked about 18 or 19 and had an air of tenderness about her. She also had an aura that seemed completely different from any other Enterran she had ever encountered. The girl stared in awe at the angelic figure that stood with a motherly smile before her.

"Please lay back down," she said hurriedly as soon as she saw her attempting to sit up. Her feathery voice was kind and caring. "You need to rest."

"Come on, Yakumo," said a voice from outside the entrance. "She's been asleep for two days!" The woman, Yakumo, moved to the side as the owner of the voice, a teenage boy about 15 years old entered. He grinned, lighting up his sky blue eyes. He had lavender hair that was short in the back but his bangs were an inch below his chin.

"But she's still hurt; she needs rest," Yakumo insisted,

The boy was about to argue when the girl finally spoke. "Where am I?" her voice was hoarse from lack of use. "How'd I get here?"

The two looked startled for a moment. Then, Yakumo spoke. "You're at our campsite. Mushra, here," she motioned toward the boy with her hand, "found you in the woods. You had a bad wound on your chest and stomach so we bandaged you up and let you rest."

The girl suddenly sat up, but let out a gasp of pain and leaned back a bit, clutching her stomach. Yakumo was quick to her side, holding out a hand to keep her from sitting back up.

"Stay calm, okay? You don't want to re-open your wounds. What's wrong?"

"Others?" she choked out, looking up at the boy called Mushra. "Were there any others?"

Mushra blinked at her, surprised. "No. There was nothing else there except a bag and a quarter staff. I sent Saago to get that after I brought you back to camp."

The girl's eyes saddened. "Oh," she sighed disappointedly.

A silence settled around the three. It was broken by the same kitten-Enterran that had waked her. Excitement sparkled in her eyes as she ran in.

"The food's done! Uncle Kutall said to hurry up!" She tilted her head at the sight of the girl. "Oh, is she hungry?"

Yakumo and Mushra turned to her, expectant. The girl stared up at them, confused. A loud grumbling noise erupted from her stomach. She blushed and looked down.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Mushra answered with a chuckle.

"Good!" A loud, boisterous voice boomed from outside. "I've made a lot and I'd hate for it to go to waste."

Laughter followed this comment. Then, a male voice said, "Even if she doesn't eat anything, you'll gulp it all down anyway."

"So will you be joining us outside to eat, um . . ." Yakumo paused, not knowing how to address the young girl before her.

She looked up thoughtfully as Mushra helped her to stand. As she shakingly tried to hold herself up on her own feet she stumbled. Mushra reached out to catch her, but she pushed his hand away slowly.

"Hikari. My name is Hikari Tenshi." She sniffed around for a moment, catching a delicious aroma. "Yes, I am hungry." Walking steadily, Hikari followed the other two outside.

A large, yellow cat-Enterran stood over a large, silver pot on a campfire. He was taking a taste from a large spoon with a look of satisfaction spreading across his feline face. Sitting with his back against a nearby tree was a tall male wearing a blue cape and helmet. He was tossing a coin in his hand, trying his luck. A girl about the age of 11 with chocolate eyes and her caramel hair in a pink bun sat next to him, playing with three kitten Enterrans - the one from before and two males like her.

"This is Kutall," Yakumo introduced the largest of her friends.

"A pleasure to meat you, madam." The cat bowed, taking her hand formally. He stared at her hand and commented, "Such delicate little fingers. I bet they would make an excellent stew." Shocked, Hikari quickly drew her hand back and stumbled backwards a few inches.

She was slowly backing away when something landed behind Kutall with a loud explosion. The noise made Hikari, Mushra, and Yakumo jerk their heads up to see the girl who was playing with the kittens standing up with a large bazooka resting on one shoulder. She looked up from her aiming.

"YOU IDIOT!!!" she yelled. "Do you want to scare her?!"

"Kidding, kidding. I wasn't serious," Kutall said nervously. He was obviously terrified of the young girl's anger.

"Well don't do it again!" she ordered. She then walked up to Hikari with a polite smile. "My name is Binka. Pleased to meet you." She held out her hand for Hikari to shake.

"Hello, Binka." Hikari took her hand slowly, a bit wary.

"Oh, don't listen to Kutall. He does that sometimes, but he **won't** do it again." She glared at the large cat while saying this last part.

"O-okay."

Yakumo continued with introductions. "This is Saago," she said as the guy with the cape and helmet stood to shake hands with her, "and these are the kittens: Rei, Sen," the two male kittens waved, "and Esty." The small female feline smiled brightly up at her. "They are Kutall's nephews and niece. Everyone, this is Hikari."

Hikari looked around nervously at all the new faces. She didn't quite know how to respond to a greeting like this so she just tried to put on a smile.

"Well," Kutall interrupted the silence, "let's stop standing around and eat!" He began pouring steaming bowls of delicious smelling soup into bowls and handing them out.

"This smells heavenly." Hikari commented as she sat down with her own bowl and spoon.

"It would to me, too, if I hadn't eaten in two days," Mushra pointed out. Hikari's stomach growled in agreement, which caused her to blush as everyone laughed.

"I guess you have a point there."

--------------------------------

**Mwuahahaha! Now chapter two is currently up to date! If you notice, I'm trying to keep my format the same so everything looks nice and neat. I'm a little OCD like that. I like for everything to look nice and neat and follow a proper format. If not, things look sloppy to me. (Though, right now, my room is the sloppiest of all my works. I gotta clean it soon. Anywho, expect more of my revised chapters. This one is the only one I almost 're-wrote' but I was planning on doing that anyways. I'm just going back and fixing errors I missed before.**

**Please review! I love them bunches (especially the really nice written out ones with constructive criticism and what you liked.)**

**~Mushraluvr**


	3. Her Story

**I thought I'd never get around to updating this. Yeah, I've been thinking about the plot this whole time, but never sat down to type. I was writing more on my other stories. I was almost done with the next chapters of 'Who wants to Play Truth or Dare?' and 'Itsu made mo' when my laptop crashed. I didn't save my stories to my memory card like I do my shinzo pics. Everything that was on my hardrive got deleted. I was sooooooo P.O.ed. I am saving everything to the card now. **

**This next chapter is dedicated to dailyangel. She reminded me that this story still existed on the internet. One of the main reasons I didn't update was lack of motivation. I wrote faster on 'Itsu Made Mo' because my best friend, Takashi, threatened to kill me. **_**That's**_** motivation. I'd rather live to see the end of my stories. Thanks for your reviews. Huge thanks again to dailyangel.**

**Disclaimer: Oh, how I wish I owned Shinzo. I wouldn't have degraded it like the American Dubbers did. I still like it, but the original is better.**

"So, Hikari, did you like your meal?" Kutall asked in his boisterous voice. He and Saago were putting up the washed plates as the rest of the group sat around the fire. The afternoon sky glowed orange and was getting darker by the minute..

Hikari nodded, a smile gracing her lips. "Yes, it was delicious. I've never had anything quite like it. You're a very talented cook."

Kutall blushed and scratched the back of his head.

"It was nothing." he said modestly.

"No, really!" she insisted. "I wouldn't mind some more of that." Saago laughed.

"Really now?" he asked with mirth. "I'd be suprised if you could. I've never seen anyone eat more than Kutall, until now."

"Seriously," Binka added, "It's like you hadn't eaten in months!"

"Hn. A healing body absorbs nutrients like a sponge." she said as-a-matter-of-factly. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared away from them. Everybody laughed at her expression.

"So, Hikari," Yakumo said after everyone had calmed down, "Could you tell us a little about yourself? How'd you get hurt like that?" Hikari's smile faded and she looked down. She didn't answer at first. Yakumo saw this. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Hikari looked up at her with a small smile on her face.

"It's okay. I don't mind." her eyes gave a hint of sadness. "I was ambushed by bandits on the road. They outnumbered me and took my money. I'm lucky they left me with my staff and bag. I guess they beat me up really bad." To Hikari's suprise, Yakumo believed this and nodded her head.

"Now tell us about you." She urged.

"Alright. I've never been good at telling people about myself, but I'll give it a shot." She sat quiet for a moment to gather her thoughts. "I'm 15 years old. From as far as my memory goes, I grew up in Shoofay village. It was composed of a variety of human-based, insect, reptile, amphipian, animal-based, and bird Entterans, so I didn't grow up around much prejiduce. We had robots too, but not many."

"Wow! Robots?!" Ren and Sen exlaimed.

"Yes." she continued with a smile on her face. "Everybody got along and helped each other. It was wonderful. I liked to swim in the river and play at the park with the other kids. I loved it there."

"What about your parents?" Binka asked. "Did you have any siblings?"

"I don't know about blood siblings. It may sound strange, but I woke up one day in the forest with no knowledge of where I was or what I was doing before then. I was 6 then. My now best friends, Takashi and Seru, found me and brought me to the village."

"Strange." Saago interupted. Hikari cocked her head to the side and stared at him with a question in her eyes. "Mushra, isn't this similar to you?" Mushra's eyes widened.

"You're right! You found me in the woods one day when I was little. I had no memory of my parents or my previous life."

"That is strange." Hikari agreed. Mushra nodded.

"Sorry," Saago apologized, "please continue."

"It's okay. Where was I?"

"Takashi and Seru found you in the woods." Esty informed her.

"Oh. Anyways, They took me back to the village to their Uncle Kosuke. He scolded them harshly for going out of the village. He didn't want to lose them the way he lost his brother and step-sister." Binka was about to ask something, but Hikari knew what it was. "A group of vicous travelers came through the village one day. They attacked their mother." the group gasped in shock. "Their dad died protecting her. The group killed her afterwards. They would have gotten killed, but their uncle hid them before they were discovered."

"Why would anyone do that?" Binka asked sorrowfully. She remembered how her parents were taken out of her life.

"She was a human. That's why." She said with anger in her voice. "The twins are half-breed. That's why Uncle Kosuke doesn't want them out of the village." She looked around at the groups shocked faces. "I didn't think you would be that suprised at the mention of humans. You have two here." She motioned to Yakumo and Binka.

"H-how did you?" Kutall was to suprised to speak.

"It's a weird 6th sense. I can tell a Kadrian from an Enterran, too, but it's very rare to see them in the northern hemisphere." Then turning to Yakumo she said "Don't worry. I won't hurt you or turn you in. I don't dislike humans." Yakumo smiled.

"Are there really other humans left?" She asked hopefully. Her voice was bright and excited. Hikari gave her a weird look.

"Of course! What human doesn't know of Shinzo? It's to the west." She pointed toward the setting sun, which was now halfway behind the treetops. "It's not _that _far away. Maybe two months from the last town I was in. I've no idea where I am right now, though." Yakumo's face was full of pure joy.

"That's wonderful!" She jumped up and grabbed Hikari's hand. "How do you know so much about Shinzo?" Hikari's face dropped.

_"CRAP!" _Hikari thought to herself in horror._ "Me and my mouth."_

"Umm... Takashi and Seru told me. Their mother told their relatives of it. Uncle Kosuke told them." She said quickly. Yakumo nodded. She let go of her hands and spun around once.

"This is great!" she exclaimed. "Shinzo is only two months away!"

"I said 'I think'" Hikari reminded.

"Who cares!" Kutall shouted in a sudden burst of excitement. He jumped up and grabbed Saago around the arm. They jumped around in circles. "We're almost to Shinzo!" He and Saago laughed as they kept pranccing around. The kittens were holding hands and walking in circles. Mushra was laughing along with everyone else. Hikari smiled as Yakumo and Binka grabbed hands and danced around each other. She stood and walked toward the woods behind her.

"I'm going to think." She said to the group. She doubted that they heard her, but walked into the trees without turning back.

--

The sun wasn almost set. The only evidence that it hadn't was the small glow behind the tree tops. The moon was out and a few stars already dotted the darkening sky. The group was setting up the other tents and getting ready to sleep.

"Where's Hikari?" Binka asked.

"She said she was going to think and went in the woods." Esty told them.

"I hope she doesn't over exert herself." Yakumo worried. "Her wounds haven't healed much.

"I'll go get her." Mushra said.

"Okay, be careful."

"I will." he assured her. "Ask Saago or Kutall to take first shift, tonight." Yakumo nodded and he headed into the forest.

--

Hikari sat on a broad branch of a tree. Her back was leaning against the trunk as she let one leg dangle to her side and the other was was bent on the branch. She let one arm rest on her bent leg as she stared at her palm. She concentrated on her palm for a long time. A small ball of light slowly formed in the middle of her palm. She bit her lip as she concentrated harder. Then, with a small flash, the ball disappeared.

"Crap!" she said under her breath.

"Hey!" a voice suddenly called out. She jumped in suprise and lost her balance. She waved her hands back and forth frantically, trying to balance herself. She couldn't and fell forward.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." She opened her eyes to see Mushra's face. He held her in his arms. She stared into his sky blue eyes. "You need to be careful from now on." His voice made her jump. She blinked a few times and looked at him again. She studied his face intently as he set her down.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked. She blinked and looked at him again.

"No. It's just that you suddenly look familar."

"Oh. I don't think we've met before."

"Me neither. It's just a weird feeling. Thanks for saving me. That's twice. I owe you." She averted her eyes from his gaze and drifted into deep thought.

"Don't worry about it. Why were you up in that tree?" Mushra asked as he stared up at the branch she was on.

"I was thinking." she said absentmindedly.

"Of what?" he asked. "What the rest of your story is going to be, or how you're going to leave in the easiest way?" She glared up at him suddenly.

"The first option." she said slowly. "I take it that you didn't give much detail of my would be murder site. I thank you for that." He nodded.

"I was going to let you decide. You're a warrior." It was a statement. Not a question.

"I was. I'm not too sure about that anymore. Thank you for keeping quiet."

"No problem," he said with a grin, "but I would appreciate it if I could know the whole story." Hikari nodded.

"I owe you for my life, so I'll tell you." She looked up at the dark sky. The sun had completely set. "Could we discuss it another time though."

"Sure. We need to head back to camp." Mushra turned around and started walking toward the camp.

he turned around when he didn't hear footsteps behind him. Hikari was still standing in the same spot. she was staring up at the sky.

"Mushra..." She asked in a small voice. She looked at him.

"Hmmm?" he was walking back towards her.

"A-are you _sure _that there was n-nobody else around" her voice cracked a bit.

"Yes. I'm sure." he said slowly.

"Oh, okay." She began to walk in the direction he had before. She held her head low and was silent as he hurried ahead of her to lead.The walk was silent as they trudged along. Mushra seemed worried by the silence.

"Don't worry." he reassured softly. "They'll be okay. You got out safe. There's no reason they wouldn't." Hikari didn't answer, but he knew she listened.

As they neared the campsite, they could see the flickering of the fire through the thinning trees. Saago was sitting on a log with a blanket around his shoulders. He saw them and waved. As they came close enough to hear, he spoke.

"Me and Kutall are sharing the large tent as ussual. The kittens have squeezed in with Yakumo and Binka, so Mushra has more space in his tent. You'll sleep there. If you want extra blankets, ask whoever's on gaurd and they'll find some for you." He poked the fire's ashes with a stick. The flames crackled as they grew slightly.

"If you want," Mushra turned to Hikari, "I'll sleep outside so you can have the tent to yourself." She shook her head slightly.

"It's okay. I don't want to force you outside."

"You sure?" he asked. She nodded quickly.

"Hikari," Saago looked up at her as he spoke, "Yakumo left you a pair of night clothes in the tent. She said if the tank top is too big, borrow a T-shirt from someone." Then he added in a whisper "I don't recomend borrowing from Kutall, though." He glanced at his tent as he spoke. Hikari chuckled a little. Saago grinned at his own joke. When he opened his eyes he blinked a couple of times. He looked at Mushra, then Hikari, then back at Mushra.

"Now that I compare you two," he continued to switch his gaze back and forth. "You could probably fit into almost anything Mushra has. You two are almost the same height. Mushra's maybe got three fourths of an inch on you. At least your not the short one anymore, Mushra." He chuckled.

"What do you mean? I never was the short one!" he said indigently. "Besides," he grumbled, "I've grown two inches since we've started traveling."

"So how tall are you now? Five feet?"

"Haha. Very funny. I'm five foot three."

"_Wow_." Saago said with sarcasm. "That's a _big _difference." Mushra glared at him for a second, but dropped the subject.

"Alright, go get ready, Hikari." he told her. "I'll wait out here." She nodded and turned into the tent. Mushra sat down on the log next to Saago.

"How is she?" Saago whispered.

"She's fine. She just needed time to think some things out." His voice was low and quiet. Saago nodded in understanding. After a moment Hikari exited the tent. She was weraring the same torn shirt as before, but was now wearing a pair of long purple striped pants. She held a pink tank top against her chest.

"It's too big. The straps slide off my shoulders." She folded the top and layed it on the log. Mushra stood up and led her to the tent.

"I think I have a clean T-shirt. We haven't washed laundry in a week. It's hard when your always on the road." She followed silently into the tent. He grabbed a pack from the corner and began to dig through it. He pulled out a few shirts and a pair of pants and dropped them on the floor. He rummaged through his bag a bit more before he pulled out a folded black T-shirt and tossed it to her.

"Now that's my favorite shirt, so don't go running away." Her lips curved into a small smile as she unfolded the shirt and held it against her chest. On the front, a red-orange phoenix was flying upward with a trail of sparks behind it. The bird stood out against the black.

"I won't. I promise." He grinned one of his wide grins.

"Good." He left the tent, and she changed into the shirt. When she was done, She opened the tent flap.

"I'm done." Mushra stood up and went into the tent as she stood outside. After a moment he stuck his head out.

"Night, Saago."

"Good night."

Hikari followed Mushra back into the tent. He wore a pair of boxers with blue flames and plain white T-shirt. He had set up a large pallet with four pillows and had set her bag in the corner by his.

"Pick whichever side and pillows you want. I don't care what you choose." She sat down on the left side and pulled one of the pillows from the pile.

"You can get two if you want." Mushra offered.

"It's alright. I'm used to one." She lay down with her back facing him and pulled the blankets over her shoulder. Mushra lay down on his side with his back facing her. He reached over and turned off the gas lamp. It was pitch black until their eyes adjusted. All was silent, except for the popping of the fire outside.

"Mushra..." Hikari said after a minute or two. Mushra grunted in reply. "Why is Yakumo so exited about Shinzo?" Mushra was quiet for a moment.

"Yakumo needs to reach Shinzo to save the last of the humans." he said groggily. "She was intrusted by her father, Dr.Tatsuro."

"That name sounds familar."

"Your uncle might've mentioned him." he suggested. "Ask Yakumo if you wanna know more. She'll tell you."

"Yeah." she agreed quietly. "Good night, Mushra."

"Good night, Hikari. Sweet dreams." With that, She slowly driffted off to sleep.

**That's the 3rd chapter. I popped in my Shinzo DVDs halfway through, because I forgot 2 or three things. I realize I made a mistake in Ch. 1. Yakumo has blue eyes, not brown... I gotta fix that. I'll try and update soon. I've said that each time I've updated, but the chapters are months in between. Lazyness is my greatest enemy.**

**To my best friend Sara: I just thought of something. If you kill me, I'll never be able to update. So HAAA!!**


	4. What's a pervert?

**Oopsies. My laptop broke again... (Sniff, Sniff) I'm typing this on my old laptop, which is **_**really**_** slow. I'm also severly addicted to Final Fantasy X-2. **

**Dailyangel - I'll read that story. I like Sakura, but Hinata is my fave. Oh, yeah, sorry, but my fave couple is SasuSaku. I look at NaruSaku as a sibling type thing. Yes, I know what Kingdom hearts is. I'm in love with the game and praying the 3rd one comes out for PS2 also. (soooooooo not wasting money on PS3) Thanks for the review. I hope you like this chapter.**

**Mushra: She better. You put more than 10 hours into this.**

**My own laziness and boredom. I got distracted a lot. (cough) video games (cough) so don't bite her head off.**

**Disclaimer: WHAT THE HECK! I **_**don't**_** own Shinzo?? (goes to cry in corner)**

_Hikari walked through a meadow of lush grass. The puffy white clouds stood out against the smooth blue sky. The bright sun was behind her. She walked at a steady pace, staring up at the sky. The wind played with her hair and made grass billow in waves. _

_"Hikari, Where are you going?" a woman's voice asked. The smooth, silky voice seemed to come from everywhere, as if the meadow were speaking._

_"To the west." Her mouth did not open as her voice answered back. It was as if her thoughts were projecting themselves to the entity._

_"Why?" It questioned._

_"Shinzo's to the west." _

_"Why are you going?" _

_"I...I think for Takashi and Seru. They wanted to see what humans were like."_

_"That was the excuse to leave. Remember?" The voice was calm and patient._

_"Not really. I don't remember a reason. My heart seemed to urge me to go one day. It was strange."_

_"As I expected. You've seemed to have forgotton everything."_

_"What have I forgotten?" She asked curiously._

_"I can't say, dear. I'm stretching the rules enough as it is by contacting you. It's still a shame you forgot __**him**__ and your promise. He must be heartbroken."_

_"Who? What promise?" Her eyes continued to stare up at the sky in a strange trance._

_"I really can't say. I'm sorry." the voice apologized. "Your heart seems to remember, though." it pondered. "Or else, you wouldn't be going on this journey."_

_"Who are you, and what are you talking about?" _

_"I can't tell you that. Besides, I feel a presence. It's separating your consious and subconcious minds completely. I doubt you'd remember this when you woke up."_

_"I'm confused." she admitted._

_"I know."_

_"Not about the things you aren't telling me, though. I wonder... Is this a dream, or is it another dream-slash-spirit world place."_

_"I guess you could say the second option. It's much more complex than that." the voice paused. "What do you mean 'another'?"_

_"A boy caught me, in an in-between place. It was like a dream, but it was real. He was in the Gateway," she thought for a moment, "between the world of Real and Non-existance. He said it wasn't a dream. I believe him. I couldn't have dreamed up something like that place and him."_

_"Strange." it pondered. Hikari noticed the view ahead of her shimmer and fade. The voice spoke again in a hurry. "I must go now. He's trying to stop me." The grass and sky began to swirl slowly in darkness. A black cloud began to creep around her body. "You must continue to Shinzo. Don't quit, no matter what happens." The last trace of the sun disappeared behind the black fog. Hikari was left alone in darkness. It was quiet for a minute. Then, the sound of footsteps could be heard. They steadily grew louder until Hikari knew the person they belonged to was very close._

_"Ha!" a deep voice scoffed. A dark form rose from the ground ahead of her. "Let's see you find light from __this__ darkness." It slowly walked towards her as it spoke. Hikari's lips pulled back into a snarl._

_"YOU!" she hissed. "You bring them back now!" The figured chuckled in his deep sadistic voice._

_"What will happen if I don't?" he threatend. Hikari's arms and legs constricted to her sides as she froze on the spot. She began to lift a few inches off the ground. A low growl vibrated from her throat as the figure neared. His broad face had a malicous grin across his thin lips. He had pale skin that stood out against the blackness around him. His dark, crimson eyes stared up at her. "I control the darkness now, thanks to my new servants. You can't do anything here." He chuckled victoriously._

_"Why couldn't you have taken me instead?! You were going to get me anyways. You could've left them out of it!" she snarled._

_"I needed their powers, too. __It__ would be too resistant if you weren't weakened first."_

_"What would?" he held out his hand and put it on her forehead. The corners of his mouth rose further into an animal like grin. His eyes stared at her greedily._

_"Your life force." Hikari's eyes widened and she struggled against her invisible bonds. "But now," his hand began to glow a deep purple, " I'll be all-powerful!" The glow strengthened and Hikari's scream of agony peirced the quiet atmosphere. His eyes blazed brighter at the sound of her pain. _

_There was glow from behind her, and a burst of golden light rammed into the figure. He fell backwards and hit the ground hard. The light around the newscomer began to fade. They had a cloud white top and black pants. Their armor and wings were a bright gold. They grabbed Hikari in their arms and flew upwards without a word.. The wind blew against their hair as they gained speed. Suddenly, they stopped. The two were in the place from Hikari's first dream. The figure sat down with her in their arms. Her breaths were heavy and ragged._

_"Are you alright?" Their voice was calm and quiet. Hikari managed a nod and tried to steady her breathing. The person holding her stroked her arm gently. "It's okay." they soothed. "He won't come here again." Hikari's breathing had steadied. She sat up on her own and looked at the person. Her eyes widened as sapphire met sky. It was the boy from her first dream. _

_"How'd you save me?" she asked in disbelief._

_"That man was using his spirit to travel in this world. He won't come back though. He knows some other force is here."_

_"Thank you." she smiled in gratitude._

_"Your welcome. I see you learned a little tonight."_

_"How did-" she stopped and let the question drop. She began again. "I don't know what to make of it. Aparantly, I made a promise from before-I-can-remember. I think you said something like that the first time I saw you, before I woke up. I'm not too sure. I'm having trouble remembering anything lately." she sighed dejectely. "It makes me wonder if I really know myself. It's a helpless feeling, not being sure what to think or do." _

_"Don't ponder too hard on it. You'll figure something out." he smiled encouragingly. She used her knee as an elbow rest and propped her head up with her hand. She pursed her lips and creased her eybrows as she thought._

_"I have a feeling there was something important before I woke up in the woods." She finally said. She didn't explain her words. She had a feeling he knew somehow._

_"There had to have been something. You'll figure out." He smiled at her, and her eyes glanced up at him with a suspicious glare._

_"You know, don't you?" It was more of a statement than a question. He nodded and put his index finger over his lips. "I knew it. There's just something strange about you."_

_"What do you mean 'strange'?" he asked curiously. Hikari looked at him dubiously._

_"For one," she counted off on her index finger, "you seem to know more about me than I do. Two, you're stuck inbetween real and non-existance. Three," she paused to put her thoughts into words. "you have a strange 'presence'." He looked at her with confusion in his sky eyes._

_"What do you mean?" Hikari thought for a moment. _

_"Even in that first meeting, I felt drawn to you. It really hurt me to leave you alone here." She blushed a bit. "I've never met you before then, but I felt so comfortable and peaceful around you. It's as if I knew you my whole life. Wouldn't you call that strange?" The boy thought for a moment._

_"I guess I would if I were in your place." he admitted._

_"See?" she prodded. He nodded his head 'yes'._

_"Before, you go," he said suddenly, "don't worry about going to sleep. That man won't ever come here or your dreams again. He won't risk his soul." Hikari nodded._

_"I won't."_

_"Good." he smiled. "Now," he put his hand on her forehead, "You need to rest. You have enough problems without frying your brain." she smiled at his joke. His hand glowed light blue and her eyes began to slowly close._

**OoOoOoOoO**

Hikari felt a hand shaking her shoulder. She reluctantly opened her eyes to see Mushra hovering over her.

"Good morning, Sleepyhead." he grinned widely at her. Her eyes widened and she sat up suddenly. Mushra jumped back. Her mind was in a turmoil as thoughts pushed to get through first. She couldn't concentrate on one for more than a moment before another shoved it out of the way.

_"Was that?!... Who?" _She glanced at Mushra. _"Who did I see? Weren't we..." _Her mind struggled to comprehend her thoughts. Unknown things seemed to slip away and she was trying to grasp a hold of them. _"What... Where... I know there's something I need to remember. Why?!" _She clenched her fist in her hair as she struggled. Mushra watched her confused. When everything had slipped away, she let go of her hair and huffed in irritation.

"What was that about?" Mushra questioned skeptically. Hikari jumped at his statement. She had forgotten he was there. She grinned sheepishly.

"I was... uh... trying to remember a dream. I completely forgot." she sighed. "I think something's wrong with my head." Mushra rolled his eyes.

"Is that all? I thought you were having some wierd seizure. Don't worry, though. Most people forget a lot of their dreams. I _think _mine had something to do with a chocolate city." Hikari pursed her lips and nodded slowly. Mushra's grin faded at her serious look.

_"I know there's more to it than that." _she thought desperatly. _"It was more than a dream, but..."_ A pair of light gray cargo pants thrown at her face snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up in time to catch a belt thrown toward her. She glanced to her right and spotted Mushra digging through his bag of clothes again.

"Hey." he said while he started to put the clothes back. "Ask Yakumo for a shirt. She might have one that fits. We're going to wash clothes today since we're by a river."

"Okay."

"Hurry and get dressed. Kutall is done with breakfast." he informed. He picked up the bag of laundry and left the tent. Hikari stood up and opened the tent flap. Kutall was serving oatmeal and toast to Binka and the kittens. Mushra was walking towards the woods with his clothes. Saago was close behind with a bag of his own. Binka looked up and smiled.

"Good morning, Hikari." she greeted cheerfully. "Did you sleep well?" Hikari nodded curtly and Binka chuckled. "I'm suprised, really. His snoring didn't keep you up?"

"No." she replied as she sat down next to her. "He was quiet as a mouse." Binka looked a bit suprised. "Where's Yakumo?" Esty jumped up onto her lap.

"She's in her tent." The little kitten pointed towards the tent as she spoke. Hikari lifted her off her lap and onto to the ground as she stood up.

"Thank you." She walked towards the tent and heard humming from inside.

"Hello?" she called out.

"Come in!" Yakumo's voice called from inside. Hikari lifted the flap and ducked in. As soon as she did a blur of white flew at her. She caught the soft missile before it hit her face.

"There's a shirt that might fit. There's a purple tee that might fit too, but it's going to be hot today."

Hikari unbundled the shirt. It was a short sleeved white t-shirt. Along the bottom, it had a three rows of black and white squares arranged in a checkerboard pattern. The sleeves had two rows of checkers. A golden-eyed cat stared at Yakumo from the middle of the shirt. The cat's eyes glowed fom the back. Yakumo watched as she held it against her form.

"It looks like it might." the human female stated. "Go try it on." She urged. Hikari left for her tent for a moment. When she came back, She was wearing the shirt and jeans. When she enteed, she was in the process of fastening the black belt.

"I'm glad he left this." She stated gratefully. "The jeans are a bit big on me."

"I would let you borrow mine," Yakumo sighed, "but they'd be much too long."

"It's okay. I'll just have to do some work at the next town and buy some clothes."

"You can use some of our money if you need clothes." she offered.

"I'm fine. I do it all the time."

"If you're sure." Yakumo said reluctantly.

"I'm positive." Hikari smiled at her, then remembered something. "I wanted to know why you're so excited about Shinzo." Yakumo stopped folding the shirt in her hands and looked up.

"It's my duty." she said calmly.

"How so? You're an innocent young woman. What could possibly make you go on such a journey? Many Enterrans would not hessitate to kill you because of your blood."

"I'm not really that young. I'm probably around 506." Hikari's face fell and she remained silent.

"Are you okay?" Yakumo asked while waving her hand in front of the silent girl's face. Hikari nodded meekly while her expression remained.

"Okay then. I guess it is hard to comprehend. Fivehundred and six years old." She sighed as she rolled the thought over in her head.

"H-how did you..." Hikari was at a loss of words.

"Oh! That? That's part of the story. During the Great Enterran War, many humans were killed. The remaining are said to have fled to Shinzo. My father, Daigo Tatsuro, was a great scientist. He put me into suspended animation to awake fifty years later. He hoped that I would be able to save the remaining humans in Shinzo. Something went wrong with the machine, Hakuba, and I slept for five-hundred years, instead. I've only aged 10 years."

"You slept in Hakuba for 500 years?!" she said in disbelief. " Wow. I'd hate to imagine the neck cramp when you woke up." Yakumo smiled.

"It wasn't that bad. Hey, why are you going west? Are you headed to Shinzo?" Hikari's eyes widened as if something really heavy just hit her.The color drained from her face in a second.

"I, uh, well I'm just traveling around. it's fun." She grinned sheepishly. Before Yakumo started to ask another question, she went on. "Well, I think I'm gonna see if the guys need any help with the clothes. Save me a bowl of food, please!" She ran out of the tent in a flash. Yakumo looked out the tent flap to see the teen already at edge of the woods.

"Okay then." She knew she couldn't hear, though.

**OoOoOoOoOoO**

"Ugh!" Saago exlaimed as he held up a pair of torn blue jeans. "How come all your clothes smell like charcoal?" He dunked them in the river as he started scrubbing. He and Mushra sat on their knees as they leaned over the cold waters. Saago had used a path of rocks to cross to the other side and worked a little ways upstream from Mushra. the water moved past their hands in a slow current as the sun glittered off the clear surface.

"It's not my fault." Mushra informed. "At least they don't smell like cheap perfume, wine, and ciggaretes whenever we come out of a town."

"What are you saying?" He challenged.

"Me?" Mushra asked innocently as he hung a large pair of pink pants over a low tree branch." I'm not saying anything, ecxept for the fact how our money seems to dissappear."

"Hey!" Saggo objected. "That slot machine in Ponzuko was rigged!"

"Whatever, what about the other-" Mushra stopped when he noticed his friend sniffing another black shirt. He seemed to concentrate on it. "I don't wanna hear it. I know it smells like burnt wood." He rolled his eyes.

"It's not that." he said calmly. "This one smells like," he sniffed the cloth again, "like lavenders and cherry blossom."

"Hey," Mushra said defensively. "I don't use any perfumes or anything so don't say anything. Wait, what shirt is that?"

"It's your favorite shirt." Saggo held up the black shirt by it's sleeves. It unfurled to show a phoenix flying up into the black.

"Oh!" Mushra stated in suprise. "That's the one Hikari slept in last night. It must be her, not me."

"Of course. She smells much nicer than your charcoal smell."

"That's both flattering and creepy at the same time." A voice said from behind them. Mushra and Saago looked up as the green bushes rustled noisely. Hikari emerged from the green. Her clothes were ruffled and a few leaves decorated her hair. She walked up to the river and bent down on her knees.

"Why exactly is he sniffing what I wear?" She pulled her chestnut hair into a messy bun and grabbed a tiny pink skirt from the pile of clothes. She dunked it into the water and started to scrub.

"I don't know." Mushra answered.

"Is he a pervert?" Mushra burst into laughter and Saago's face fell.

"That's likely." He said once his laughter calmed down. He looked back to where Hikari had emerged as he heard more rustling.

"Hikari, what's a pervert?" Esty's small voice questioned as she jumped out of the bush. The small kitten was wearing a green skirt and a pink flowered shirt. Mushra laughed more when he turned to look at Saago's crestfallen expression.

"What is it?" The small kitten insisted. She tugged on the bottom of Hikari's shirt.

"It's a person with dirty thoughts. Kids shouldn't be around them."

"Ohhh." Esty said in understanding. "Saago's a pervert?"

"Apparantly." She answered. Mushra had stopped luaghing and nodded in agreement. The bush rusteled once again and luaghter followed. Ren and Sen jumped out of the woods laughing. They danced around each other as they started to sing.

"Saago's a pervert! Saggo's a pervert!" The brothers laughed and sang loudly. They wore their normal pants, but Ren wore a light green shirt with a darker green star on it. Sen wore the same shirt in shades of blue. Hikari giggled at their fun.

"I am not a pervert!" Saago yelled defensively. His face was tomato red.

"Really?" Mushra said doubtfully. "Prove it. There's more evidence against you, though."

"Like what?" Saggo asked. The twins started to sing again.

"You know 'what'." he accused. "Admit it. You're just a dirty perv." He smirked at the labled lecher.

Saago's teeth gounded audibly against each other as he glared at the boy. He leaned down to toward the water and dipped his arm in. He smirked as he splashed the water high out of the river and toward Mushra. Mushra ducked and avoided getting soaked. It hit the unsuspecting girl behind him. Time froze once Saago realized his mistake.

"Saago..." Hikari's voice was sickingly sweet.

She caught his frightened eyes with her predator like ones. She jumped and flipped over the river. Her body turned around smoothly as soon as her feet hit the ground. She spun on one foot as she brought a roundhouse kick to Saago's gut. He flew bacward a few feet.

"Nyahh!" Hikari stuck her tongue out at the young man who lay in a heap on the ground. Mushra burst into another fit of hysterics as the kittens mocked the unfortunate Enterran.

**OoOoOoOoO**

"I'm so boooooooooooored!" Ren comlained. He and Sen were riding in Yakumo's lap. The three boys were riding there ussual vehicle. Hikari had refused to ride with a pervert and sat cross legged on top of Hakuba. Binka and Esty rode in her Turtlemobile.

"So am I, but complaining won't help." Mushra was sitting upsidedown as he moved ahead. Saago rested his arms on the front of his pink scooter.

"Well I'm hungry." Kutall stated. He was sweating bullets under the intense sun.

"You're always hungry." Saago mumbled.

"I'm hungry, too." Hikari stated. She moved her legs over the ledge and let them dangle above Yakumo's head as she lay back.

"You didn't eat breakfat, though." Binka reminded her.

"Oh yeah." Her stomach growled in rememberance it's lost meal.

"I think there's a town up ahead." Hakuba informed in his calm voice. The kittens cheered as a few tall buildings appeared on the horizon.

"Good food, here I come." Kutall announced. He sped on ahead toward the buldings.

Hikari stood up on Hakuba and jumped down. She landed behind Mushra on his hoverboard and grabbed his shoulders.

"Follow that cat!" She ordered. Mushra saluted and raced after Kutall. Saago moaned.

"Great. With those three, I doubt there will be any food left by the time we get there. Yakumo and Binka giggled as they sped up there pace toward the town.

**Yes! The fourth chapter is done! It might be much longer untill the fifth one though. I still need to rewrite the chapter I was working on for Truth or Dare Shinzo... If only my laptop hadn't of crashed. T.T I also want to try and get the 2nd chapter for Itsu Made Mo rewritten. I was almost done with it when my laptop crashed. I'm still addicted to Final Fantasy X - 2, but I've almost completed the game. I just want to win the blitzball game. Stupid blitzball... I'mgoing to work on other things after I finish that. The fourth book in the Twilight Series, Breaking Dawn, will be out in a month. Everything is stopped once My friend is done reading it. I can't wait! they're very good books. I like them a lot. The first is Twilight by Stepanie Meyer. **

**I have a good idea of what my fifth chapter will be. I'm sure it won't be one of my better chapters. It's the uneventful one, most likely...(unless I make it really long.) That's all for now. Please review. I really like constructive critism. No flames, please.**

**Buh bye for now,**

**Mushraluvr**


	5. Repeat after me: I need a vacation

**School's started already. I like the new high school and all, but that means a lot more work than Jr. High. A cool thing happened, though. I printed out my favorite Shinzo pictures and put them on the front and back of my binder. My friend's older sister saw the back and said "Oh. You're a Mushra Lover." I'm like 'OMG! Another Shinzo fan in this small town.' Her favorites are Mushrambo and Ryumma though. I went up to my friend and told her I loved her sister.**

**I also had a fanart picture of celestial Mushra where his hair is a bit more purple than lavender. Math class ran out of seats so I sat next to this guy who I've known since 3rd grade. I opened my binder to get my homework. He saw the pic and said "I've never seen him with purple hair." First I think 'That is the first person who's ever thought that was a guy in that picture at first (the way he's drawn looks more like a girl in that pic)' Then I ask how he knows. He says it's Mushra from Shinzo. I almost scream in joy. I never knew he liked Shinzo.**

**So, if you're looking for Shinzo fans in school, put it on your binder. If they're out there, you'll find them.**

**I finished one of my youtube projects and was going to work on the next, but my friend's camera broke when she went to camp. Poor Takashi. She's lost without her camera. She's snap happy.**

**The link to my youtube page is **** /user/ shinzogurl**** (without the spaces) The shinzo video I just made is the featured one. Also, if you want to watch all the japanese episodes (without subtitles) are in a playlist I made for easy veiwing. I'll do the english and dutch next. It's just for easier viewing because their in order. Now on to the disclaimer.**

**Mushra: I hate to say, because it hurts her feelings, but Mushraluvr does NOT own Shinzo.**

_**Random Shinzo fact:**__** Mushra's design was originally riding a flying nimbus (small flying cloud), but later got changed into a mechanical hoverboard.**_

**Anyways, enough of that. Here's the fifth chapter. **

"Wow!" Binka exlaimed. Her chocolate eyes sparkled in delight as they took in the explosion of colors around her. Games and food stands lined the old fashioned town square with people crowding around each. Balloons on pretty ribbons hovered cheerfully in every corner and in every child's hand. Music and laughter filled the area with its sweet sound. The sun shined brightly through a few fluffy clouds, warming the already glorious scene.

"It's so pretty!" Yakumo said in awe.

"I see Uncle Kutall!" Rei shouted, pointing toward a crowded food stand. Kutall was currenty drooling at the options in the overhead menu.

"Mushra and Hikari, too!" Sen added. Said people were already snacking on two fresh corndogs.

"Looks like they're hungry." Saago stated. Hikari spotted the group as he spoke and waved. She nudged Mushra, who looked up and smiled. He called something to Kutall as the two walked toward them.

"You should try these!" Mushra insisted.

'"They're really good!" Hikari took another bite. Her eyes widened as she remembered something. "Hey! Me and Mushra wanted to go on the rides later. Can we?"

Saago looked around the festive town. "I don't see any rides."

"They're out behind the buildings in a field." Mushra pointed towards a cluster of tall buildings behind him as he spoke.

"Can we, Yakumo?" Binka begged.

"We can when we all eat." she promised to the young girl. Then, turning to Hikari, she asked "What's this festival for anyways?"

"A guy at the food stand said it was Kokuyoku's, that's the town's name, summer festival. He said it was about some legend, but I didn't get the details. It lasts for a week."

"Wow!" Esty jumped up and down in Yakumo's lap. "It sounds like fun!"

"Come on! The food's cheap and good." Everyone turned to see Kutall coming to greet them. He had his arms full with bags of delicious food.

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

"We'll meet you three at the hotel later. We checked out two rooms." Yakumo waved off Mushra, Hikari, and Binka as they ran toward the rides.

"Okay!" The three replied in unison. The three made their way to the rides. Hikari lead them as she skillfully weaved her way through the throng of enterrans. Mushra and Binka followed, Mushra dragging Binka by the arm, as they struggled to keep the chestnut haired girl within their sight. He stopped suddenly when she disappeared from view. Mushra looked around the maze of people.

"Where'd she go?" Binka asked.

"I don't -" He stopped when he saw a hand sticking out of the crowd and waving widly in the air. A large beetle enterran moved from his sight and he saw Hikari calling to them from the ferris wheel. "There!" he pointed out. He dragged Binka to the towering wheel covered in blue, red, and green flashing lights.

"Don't do that." Binka scolded the teen when they caught up. "We thought we lost you."

"Sorry." Hikari apologized. "I saw the wheel and had an idea. Let's ride this first to get the layout of the land and find out what we want to do next."

"Okay, That sounds like a plan." Binka complimented. Mushra nodded in agreement. The three joined Hikari in the spot she saved behind a few people.

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

"I think they'll enjoy themselves." Yakumo said as soon as the three were out of of sight. Kutall and Saago nodded in agreement.

"Yes." Kutall agreed. "We're all in need of some fun."

"Uncle Kutall, Uncle Kutall!" Esty tugged on her uncle's shirt eagerly. Can we go there?" They looked up to see a small area of rides. The words "Kid's Area" were painted on a sign in bright bubbly letters.

"Sure we can." Yakumo answered for him. The kittens cheered as they were walked through the gates. Yakumo sat down on a bench as she watched Kutall strap his neice and nepwhews securly into the seat of a mini roller glide. The car was the third one in a train of five. It set on a small track that had a few hills and sharp turns. She smiled when the gliders started to move and the kittens cheered.

"Why, young lady," a crackled voice addressed her. Yakumo turned to see an old woman at a table across from where she sat. The table was small and had a midnight blue tablecloth with stars draped over it. A black box sat alone on the table. It was big enough to where Esty might be able to sleep in it. On it's side, in silver letters were the words 'Autumn Pixie'. The woman standing behind the table was old, maybe ninety. She looked old, but didn't have many wrinkles underneath the grey hood of her cloak. Her golden eyes seemed to sparkle as she motioned for Yakumo with her hand. A gentle smile lifted the corners of her pale cheeks. Curious, Yakumo walked towards her.

"Hello." Yakumo greeted her kindly. "Is there something you needed?"

"Pardon my asking, but how old are you?" Her voice was cracked with age, but was still gentle.

"Oh, I'm going to turn 17 soon." Yakumo answered, confused.

"That's too bad." The woman looked down at the box with a small smile. "You looked like a lovely canditate, too."

"For what?"

"Oh. For an Autumn Pixie. You can't try though. You have to be between the ages of 8 and 13. It is a shame, though. I can see such a lovely heart in you." She smiled at Yakumo. And touched her hand. She opened it so the palm faced upward. For a moment, Yakumo thought she would read her palm. "I can at least give you this. Such a heart of gold deserves acknowledgment." She dropped something into Yakumo's palm and gently covered it with her fingers. Yakumo brought her closed hand to her face and slowly uncurled her fingers.

A silver bracelet with a heart lay across her palm. In the middle of the heart was another gold heart that sparkled more vividly than anything she had ever seen. Entranced, she turned the bracelet over in her palm, studying the smallest detail she could find. It was so simple, yet, there seemed to be a presence about it.

"Whatcha got there?" Saago's voice suddenly snapped her back to reality.

"Oh, Saago, is the ride over?" She asked.

"No. I turned around and you weren't there. Where'd you get that?" He pointed to the sparkling jewelry in her open palm. Yakumo pointed to the woman.

"Thank you. It's beautiful." She smiled at the old lady.

"No need to thank me. You deserve it."

"What's it for?" Saago questioned.

"She would've given us a wonderful harvest." She looked off into the distance as she imagined her words.

"What do you mean?"

"A good Autumn Pixie means a good, strong crop."

"Exuse me, but what is a Autumn Pixie?"

"You don't know? Tell me, dear, are you travelers?"

"Yes. We've only been here a few hours."

"Ahh, then I'll tell you our town legend." She stood up straighter and smiled gently as her eyes looked into the past. "A long, long time ago this town was a beautiful forest. It is said that all sorts of plants and insects could be found. It was after the war, when the carnivorous mammals ruled the trees. It is said that, in the forest, lived beings that helped the forest thrive.

"But the settlers came.They made a town here and named it Kokuyoku. Many entterans wanted to colonize the vast planet and searched for new homes. The forest was quickly cut down as the town grew even larger and the need for farming land grew. After a year, strange thing's started to happen."

"What kind of things?" Saago asked curiously.

"Things would fall off shelfs and animals would turn on their masters. Things would go missing and many of the men would wake in the night, crying like children from nightmares. The towns people were frightened."

"The harvest that year was going to be good. All the crops were healthy and beautiful. The morning before the day of harvest the council was visited by five mysterious guests who resided in the remaining woods. They were True Pixie Kadrians." Saago's eyes widened.

"Wait. Aren't all Kadrians evil?"

"No!" She let out sharply as she glared at him. "Don't ever think that! Do you think the humans thought that about us during the war?"

"Um..." Saago couldn't answer, in fear of insulting Yakumo.

"Probably." She answered for him in her cracked voice, glaring at him as her golden eyes shined in anger. "But are all Enterrans evil? No. Do not ever judge a person because of race. We all live on this planet. Everyone has the right to live."

"Sorry. You're right." Saago bowed his head apologetically.

"You're forgiven. Where was I? Oh, yes, the _True_ Pixie Kadrians. The five were said to represent the elements; red fire, blue water, green mother nature, pure light, and mysterious darkness. They were all beautiful, even in the fury they addressed the council with. They came to complain about the woods being killed. They claimed the accidents around town were their doing. It would continue until the woods stopped being cut down. My great-great-great-great-grandmother, Moriko, was still a young girl then. She had been playing hide-and-seek with a few friends then in the room. She and her three friends heard everything. The council refused, believing they could do no harm. After the pixies left, the council ordered a quarter of the woods burnt down. The task was inturupted when the fire suddenly went out after a minute of burning. The people tried again, but they never could get it to burn."

"The next day, the farmers and whole town awoke to a shock. All the crops were wilted and rotten. People of the town cried, asking why they had such bad things. Many believed they were cursed. Those who had the money, left immediatly. The poorer people were sure they would die, faced with a curse and starvation. They turned to the town council, hoping for help, but all of them had left town. The people were devasted and hopeless. Moriko and her friends told them what they had heard. With a new hope, the people decided to try and negotiate with the pixies. They decided to wait for them at the edge of the woods."

"That afternoon, as the sun set, the pixies appeared in front of the group. The townspeople begged and pleaded, saying the council was to blame and promised to help the woods grow. The Pixie Kadrians never meant to be hateful. They just tried to protect the woods. They decided to make a deal. They would give the people a good crop, if the people gave them a good heart. The pixies said they wanted a young girl, not a child and not yet an adult. She must have a good, pure heart. They would take some love from the heart and keep it for their race."

"Why'd they do that?" Yakumo pondered.

"The Pixie Kadrians thrive of love and good feelings. The more love in the heart, the more power the pixies had, which in turn led to a better crop. The townspeople also promised not to destroy the woods any further."

"Who'd they choose?" Saago asked.

"The people didn't choose." She smiled. "The woods did." Saago and Yakumo gave her a confused look.

"Yes, yes. Very strange." Yakumo and Saago turned around suddenly to the source of the voice.

"Wh-when did you get there?!" Saago exlaimed. He stared at Kutall with a strange expression.

"I've been here since she started." Kutall informed, smoothing out a whisker. The woman cleared he throat and grabbed everyone's attention again.

"Sorry." Saago apologized.

"It's okay." she assured him. "The woods chose as the girls went through five different tasks, the last being the actual choosing. The girl chosen would stand at the edge of the woods until the moon rose to the middle of the sky. Moriko was chosen and waited there. When the time came, the moon light would shine down on her. Nobody could see them, but the people say she was surrounded by five different color lights that were the True Pixie Kadrians. When the lights dissapeared back into the woods, Moriko turned around. All the on-lookers gasped in shock. Her eyes had turned gold." She looked up at them with her own golden eyes, as if to prove her point. "The next day, all the fields' crops were back and healthy. It was a joyous time."

"What of your Grandmother Moriko?" Yakumo asked.

"Her eyes stayed that way for the rest of her life. Every girl who was ever an Autum Pixie had the same blessing. After the lights vanished, her eyes would shine gold forever. It's a sign that you have been touched by the pixies. Those with the golden eyes have minor powers that they share." She pointed one bony finger to the sky. A golden sparkle shot out of the tip 3 or four feet in the air and exploded into a beautifuf shower of multicolored sparks.

"So pretty." Yakumo admired with wide eyes. Saago and Kutall nodded in agreement.

"Uncle Kutall!" Esty shouted as she ran toward him, Rei and Sen at her flank. "Let's ride something else!"

"Okay,okay." He promised. Turning to Yakumo he said "I'll take them on more rides. Call if you need me."

"Alright." She watched as he turned toward the kittens. Suddenly remembering something, she called out. "Do you think I should tell Binka about the Autumn Pixie?"

"Whatever you think." He turned around again and ran after the kittens, who were racing to the Fun House.

"I think she'd like to sign up." Saago said. "How long does it last?"

"The contest last about a week with different tasks and judgings. If your traveling it'd be a good idea to stop and relax. Everyone needs fun now and then." The woman smiled as she watched Kutall and the kittens in line for the Fun House.

"I think we could all use a nice long break. There's probably a hospital, too. Hikari might need her wounds checked on."

"Well," Yakumo thought about it for a moment before grinning happily, "If what Hikari said is true, we're pretty close. I think we could take a vacation."

"Yakumo!" Yakumo turned around to Mushra's voice. He, Binka, and Hikari were coming from the direction of the rides towards her. "We found out what rides we shoud go on!"

"Let's go!" Hikari called. She tripped (over air it seems) and fell face foward, landing on her hands. Binka stopped to help her. Mushra turned around suddenly when Binka gasped in suprise.

"Ouch." Hikari grumbled as she sat up, wiping the dirt off her hands.

"What happened?" Mushra asked.

"I tripped over nothing." she sighed in agitation.

"Are you okay?" Yakumo asked as she and Saago walked towards them.

"Yeah, I get used to it, having no coordination." She laughed at herself once. Binka grabbed her arm and helped her up.

"We found some rides we think you might like." Binka told them as Hikari dusted herself off.

"That's good." Saago noted. "Great way to start off a vacation." Binka looked at him questioningly. "We get to stay here a week." He informed her.

"Really?!" Mushra asked in disbelief. Saago nodded. "That's great!"

"Good, I need to get a job." Hikari told herself. Then added too herself "I wonder how much I could get working at a booth."

"Oh, come look at this." Yakumo grabbed Binka's hand and pulled her in the direction of the booth. "I found something you might like."

"Okay?"

Mushra looked at Hikari as if asking something. She shrugged her shoulders. They both turned their questioning gaze to Saago. He smiled in response.

**Done with that. Now on to the sixth! Wow. Never thought I would make it this far. I'll work hard on it, though. My dream is to become a famous novelist so I need to work super hard on this! I hope you liked this chapter. Please leave your comments and ideas about this chapter. I love reviews. If you want to help me be able to reach my dream, you would review. Just push the little button to the left. Please?**

**Anyways, thanks for reading. Remember to check out my video if you want. It's on veoh also. That's better quality than youtube. Search 'Mushra American Idiot.' That's all i have to say for now... Wait! I want to know, Do you guys enjoy the random Shinzo facts (they're mostly on Who Wants to Play Truth or Dare Shinzo)? If so, I'll keep putting them up there as long as I can find more.**

**Ja ne,**

**Mushraluvr**


	6. Do you like Waffles?

**Sorry for the long wait and short update. I'm so lazy. It's either that or I just come up with too many other ides. It's more of the first one. Well, here it is.**

**Disclaimer: Awwwww, come on, Santa. I've been good this year. I only threw that rabid raccoon at that one girl who said Mushra was gay. Other than that I've been a perfect little Hikari Tenshi, which means "light angel by the way, chubby. **_**Why **_**can't I own the rights to Shinzo? It's not like I'm asking for Rudolph again.**

_"Ahhh." Binka sighed. "Isn't this nice?" _

_"Mm hmm." Hikari moaned. She sank further into the steaming water and let out a pleasurable sigh._

_"Yeah, you said it." Yakumo leaned back and let her head rest on the wall behind her. _

_The three girls were silent for a while as they appreciated the relaxing steam. Hikari sunk lower, eyes closed, and let the water cover the lower half of her face. It bubbled in front of her face as she let out another sigh underwater._

_"Who would've guessed we'd find a hot spring." Binka continued with amazement. _

_"Yeah, you said it." Yakumo repeated in the same, almost exhausted voice._

_"This is the best; no walking, no enemies, no worries!"_

_"Yeah, you said it." _

_"Don't you think, Hikari? Hikari?" She turned to the girl, who had yet to raise her head from the water. One, small bubble escaped her lips. She didn't move. "Hikari!" Yakumo jumped up, towards the girl. Their voices blended together, calling her name._

_"Hikari, Hikari, HIKARI!" _

"AAAGHHH!" Hikari screamed out.

She sat up instantly with a loud splash. Her wet hair flung forward and stuck to her damp face. Something lodged in her throat. She coughed up the bit of water, stinging her esophagus. She opened her eyes to see that she was in a bathtub. The small hotel shampoos had been knocked into the water and now floated around her bare legs. The nap in the steamy water had made her a bit groggy and she didn't realize why she was in a bathtub at first. As her senses sharpened, her mind registered that someone had been pounding on the bathroom door, calling her name. Whoever it was had stopped for the moment. She wiped the sleep from her tired eyes.

_"I guess I didn't get enough sleep last night." _As if to prove her point, a silent yawn forced its way through her jaws.

Suddenly there was a call of "I'm coming in!" and a loud crash. The door slammed opened. Saago stood at the door with a chair in his hands that he had used as a battering ram. He froze when their eyes met. His confused expression matched hers, but was quickly replaced by a blush and a dumbfounded look. Hikari suddenly remembered where she was, in a hot bathtub with no cover for her exposed body except her own arms. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment and anger in an instant.

"Saago is she okay-" Mushra and Binka looked in from the corner at Saago's still form, only to narrowly escape a bar of soap thrown at the wall.

"GET OUT, YOU PERVERT!!!" she shrieked in anger.

A bottle of conditioner thrown at his head knocked him backward a step. Hikari snatched a towel off the rack and held against her form as Saago regained his balance. He was immediately assaulted with complementary hotel toiletries.

"Get OUT!"

"I'm sorry!" He called as he stumbled out and slammed the door.

Hikari sighed and stepped out of the tub. She sat down on the edge and drained the water. She tried to calm herself. There was a knock on the door. She almost let out some smart remark, but decided to make sure who it was. Her mouth has gotten her into a few troubles now and then. They knocked again.

"Hikari? Are you okay?" It was Yakumo.

"Yes. I'm just startled."

"Oh, okay."

"Can I come in?" It was Binka's voice.

"Um, sure." The door opened and Binka walked in slowly. She shut it behind her and locked it.

"Are you sure you're okay? You wouldn't answer and we all thought you drowned."

_"I almost did."_ Hikari thought to herself. She decided not to let that be known, though. "I guess I relaxed too much and fell asleep." She grinned sheepishly and let out a half-hearted chuckle. Binka shook her head like an adult would at a careless child.

"You need to be careful."

"I know." She sighed. "I'm a klutz when it comes to simple things. " She stood up, wrapping the towel properly around her form. She grabbed a comb and ran it through her hair, watching her movements in the foggy mirror. She stopped and stared at her other self. She used her hand to wipe away a circle of fog and leaned closer, inspecting a spot on her forehead with deep concentration.

"What's wrong?" Binka asked confused. She watched Hikari's reflection glance at her from the mirror.

"Oh, nothing." She turned back to her. "I think I hit my head when Saago scared me." Then, leaning toward the young girl, she asked "You don't see a bruise do you?"

"No, it's clear." Standing up, she said "I just came to make sure you're okay."

"Thanks." Hikari said in gratitude as she reached for the mini hair dryer that most hotels have. She turned around suddenly and grabbed Binka's wrist. "Wait."

Binka looked at her, confusion written across her face.

"Tell Saago I'm sorry. He just startled me and I acted on impulse."

"I will, though he probably deserved it. What idiot barges into a room where he knows a girl is bathing?"

"The perverted kind." Hikari muttered under her breath. Binka laughed. The sound coaxed a wide grin from the older girl. "Thank you, thank you. Sarcasm is one of my many loveable talents. But seriously," her face suddenly turned very solemn and grave "watch out, Binka. I don't want anything happening to you."

"Don't worry. I can defend myself. I got a few tricks." Hikari smiled at the young girl and ruffled her hair.

"Save some for me, will ya? You and your bazooka can't have all the fun. Kay?"

"Okay. I promise."

"Good." Both girls laughed. Binka shut the door quietly behind her. Hikari turned back to the mirror and smiled softly. She ran the comb through her wet hair again, and grabbed the hair dryer from its wall holder. She turned it on and it started it's loud, steady hum.

**OoOoOoOoO**

Binka closed the door slowly behind her with a click. She smiled when she heard the loud hum of the hair dryer from inside.

"What happened?" Mushra asked. He and Kutall were playing a card game. Kutall was winning.

Yakumo sat by Saago, who had set his helmet to the side. She held his light-blue hair off his forehead as she put a band-aid on a slight cut.

"She was just startled. She says she's sorry, Saago."

He looked up at her with frown on his face, but shook his head and smiled. It's okay. I'll just have to not get on her bad side. That girl can throw!" He rubbed the band-aid and flinched slightly. He put his helmet back on and stood up.

"Who's ready for breakfast? I'm starving!"

A loud chorus of "Me!" echoed from the Kutall, Mushra, and the kittens.

"Alright, let's get some food downstairs." Yakumo opened the door and waited for the rest to empty out of the room. She looked back at Binka, who ran up to the bathroom door and knocked.

Binka heard the hairdryer shut off, before Hikari answered "Hmm?"

"We're going downstairs for breakfast. Meet us there when you're done."

"Sure. I'm almost done."

**OoOoOoOoO**

Hikari emerged from the hallway, refreshed, with a smile on her face. The others were gathered in the dining area getting breakfast.

"What is this?" Mushra asked in disbelief. He pointed toward a steaming machine on the counter that he squatted at, his head barley coming over the top. It opened like a clam and had four circles on the top and bottom of the inside. Rows of squares protruded from the circles.

"Obviously something to make breakfast with." Saago offered as he studied the strange machine.

"What's going on?" Hikari asked. She grabbed a plastic tray from the pile and put a plate and bowl on it.

"Good morning, Hikari." Rey and Sen greeted.

"Morning." She smiled in reply.

"But what does it make?" Mushra insisted.

"Well, considering the delicious-looking batter that sits near it, it must make some sort of pastry." Kutall mused. He smoothed a whisker as he thought to himself about the mysterious machine. "Hmm."

"Hey guys." Hikari greeted. She reached over Mushra's head and grabbed the pitcher of apple juice.

"Oh, hello, Hikari." Kutall replied automatically, still in deep thought.

"What's up?" She put the pitcher back down and grabbed the glass she just poured, setting it on her tray next to her plate of bacon.

"We're trying to figure out what this thing is." Saago informed her, pointing to said object.

"It's a waffle maker." she said very slowly with a look of amazement.

"What's a waffle?" Mushra asked from his spot on the floor.

Hikari looked at him, astonished. She suddenly turned her gaze downward, shielding her eyes with her hair and casting a shadow. Mushra looked up at her and raised a curious eyebrow.

"What's the mat-?" He was cut off by her muffled snickers. "Huh?

Hikari's snickers grew into laughter. She set her tray down on the counter and clutched her sides as she laughed harder.

"Um... what did I say?"

"Oh...I'm sor-sorry...Mushra." She said between laughter. "It's just... that was so... hilarious!"

After a moment, her laughter subsided into (horribly) controlled giggles. She grabbed her tray and sat down the table, across from Binka. She ate her breakfast between quiet giggles.

"What was so funny?" Binka questioned. After she finished off her toast and stopped giggling.

"I'm sorry." She took a sip of juice. "I just couldn't believe Mushra never had waffles. Seriously," She turned an expectant gaze to Mushra at his table.

"What?" He asked through a mouthful of bacon.

"You never had a waffle?!"

"Nope." He said it as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

She gawked, dumbfounded. Then, she pointed an accusing finger at Saago.

"I've had waffles before. The casinos let you order breakfast."

Kutall replied before she asked. "Of course. I'm a chef, aren't I?"

"Good."

She turned to Yakumo and Binka, who sat at the same table as her. She brought her head down and motioned them forward.

"Here's the plan." She whispered quickly. "Yakumo pours the batter into the machine and prepares the waffles. Binka, you will get the rope from the pack ready and hide it behind your back. When Yakumo gives the signal that they're ready, I'll blindfold Mushra and wrestle him to the ground. Binka will jump him and tie his hands behind his back. Then, we hold him down and force-"

"Umm . . . Hikari?" Yakumo interrupted.

"What? I'm on a roll over here."

"Can't we just ask him to try some?" She asked sweetly with laughter in her eyes.

"Oh..." She hung her head down. "Okay, I guess we'll go with that." she sniffled then mumbled to herself, "It was a good plan, too." Yakumo smiled at the girl's dramatic mourning.

"We can do that if my plan doesn't work." She offered.

"Really?!" Hikari instantly brightened up. Yakumo nodded in response. "Yay!"

**OoOoOoOoO**

"Oh. My. Gosh." Hikari stared, amazed at the empty plate in front of Mushra. He swallowed a mouthful of syrupy waffles and guzzled down another glass of milk. "I've never seen anyone eat ten waffles that fast."

"Thirteen." Esty corrected her quickly.

"Until now." Binka commented.

"That was delicious!" Mushra wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Too bad there's no more batter left." Everyone gawked.

"Are you even Enterran?!" Hikari demanded.

"What do you mean?" He asked, clueless of the fantastic feat he had performed. Sago sighed and shook his head slowly. "What?" he asked again.

"Forget it." Hikari picked up his empty plate and put it in the dish pile on the counter. "Were just lucky they don't charge extra for that."

"I guess those three will have to wash dishes if that's the case." Rey commented.

Saago turned around quickly. "But we" he motioned towards him and Kutall "didn't eat our weight in food"

"I guess that's something you'll have to figure out yourself." Binka smiled an overly sweet smile at him. "Hey, Hikari, Where are you going?" She caught Hikari as she was walking out the hotel doors.

"Job hunting."

"Can I come?" She put her hand on her backpack that hung from the back of the chair she had been sitting in.

"Sure. Just be sure to have everything you need ready. Your first event is today and we might not have time to some back." She glanced at the clock in the lobby for a moment.

"Already taken care of." She reassured her, patting her sack as she slipped the strap over her shoulder. She moved to the door and turned around once she reached Hikari. The guys had already gone upstairs to grab a few things. Yakumo waved at them as they walked out.

"See you later, don't miss the event." She smiled gently.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure she gets there." Hikari saluted with a serious expression. She burst into giggles as she turned an about face and walked out the door.

The sun shone brightly and warmed their faces. The noises of the town had already begun and blended together in a hum of laughter and gossip. Binka looked up at Hikari.

"Let's go find you a job."

"Aye aye, Captain!" She saluted again, but couldn't keep a straight face. Both girls laughed aloud as they walked the plaza.

**Well there you are. Please review. I love them almost as much as much as Mushra, cake, and penguins combined. . . . almost.**


	7. I Hate Needles, Absolutly Hate Them

**Update! Finally! Man, I'm lazy. Well let's get on with this thing. Mushra?**

**Mushra: Mushraluvr doesn't own Shinzo unless the eater bunny has deemed her as special and delivers the rights in her Easter basket.**

**Sad, isn't it?**

Light of Shinzo

Chapter 7

After running around for who-knows-how-long, Hikari and Binka finally manage to track down a festival organizer. They had gone around the whole place asking, but always seemed to find an unreliable source. After Binka had suggested a rest, they happened to meet her at a snow cone booth.

The organizer was a tall, red-headed feline Enterran. She wore a pink button-up shirt over a straight skirt of the same shade. It looked nice with her tan fur, long curly hair, and green cat eyes. A name tag on the shirt read 'Festival Organizer'. Underneath the title it said 'Ami'.

"So you're looking for a job?" she asked, the tip of her tail swayed side-to-side slowly as she looked Hikari over appraisingly. "We do have some openings at the booths, the pay is okay, but you'll be switched regularly from booth to booth."

"As long as I can handle it, I'll be good. Thanks for letting me work."

"I ought to be thanking you, were running low on people to work the booths. You can start working as soon as you want." Ami grinned, which looked more like a smirk on her feline face.

"Thank you. I'll get right to work," then glancing down at Binka she added, "after I help her get ready for the event today."

"Oh?" she looked at Binka with open curiosity. "You're a contestant for the Autumn Pixie? What a cute little girl." She brought up Binka's chin with her finger gently, so she could look into her chocolate eyes.

"What's your name?"

"Uh- My name is Binka," she half-stuttered nervously.

"Well, Binka," Ami let go of her chin and stood up straight, looking down at the human. "I think you'll bring this town a wonderful harvest.

"Thank you." Binka nodded curtly.

They heard someone calling Hikari's and Binka's names. They turned to see Yakumo running toward them.

"Yakumo?" Hikari tilted her head slightly, curiosity in her eyes.

The young woman had finally gotten to them. She paused for a moment to catch her breath.

"What is it?" Binka asked.

"Hikari forgot about her seeing the doctor," she informed, still a little out of breath. Said girl was suddenly tense all over.

"Ah, you didn't have to go through that trouble. You're so nice." Hikari tried to smile, but could only force a weak grin.

"It's okay. I wanted to make sure you're okay."

"You have an injury?" Ami asked.

"Well, yeah… but it's all better now. It doesn't even hurt anymore," she said as she patted her stomach. She winced. A small yelp-like whine vibrated from her throat.

"_Ow, ow, ow, ow, OWWWWWW! THAT HURT LIKE CRAP!!!!!" _She screamed inside her head. The only visible expression of pain she displayed was her left eye, that was twitching like mad; she hid this by turning from the others, holding her stomach slightly and keeping her head down.

"Are you okay, Hikari?" Binka asked, lightly touching her shoulder.

"Of course." She replied with a shaky smile. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, ok."

"And since I'm feeling so good, I guess I don't have to go to the doctor's. Right?"

Yakumo looked her over with concern. "But I want to make sure. I don't want you have an infection. Let's just go in for a checkup. If they see anything, we'll just get it fixed up, okay?"

"No, really. It's okay. You don't have to put yourself through any trouble."

"Well," Ami said, "I guess I'll just assign your job when you get back from that doctor's visit." The feline left with a wave.

"Huh? What? WAIT!" she called with an outstretched arm, which was useless. Ami had already disappeared into the crowd. Inside her mind she sobbed pitifully. _"I don't wanna!!!"_

**OoOoOoOoO**

"Hikari Tenshi, the doctor will see you now." The nurse turned around back through the door, the click-click of her heels sounding loudly off the cold tile floors.

"_NOOOO! Please have mercy, dear guardians! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!!"_ Hikari panicked in thought. She was sweating bullets as Yakumo and the others (who had met up with them in the front of 'Kokuyoku Hospital') led her toward the hall the nurse had disappeared into.

The nurse did the usual before-you-can-see-the-doctor routine: checking her height, weight, and sight. The results weren't anything unusual; five foot two (which was an inch taller than she remembered.), one hundred fifteen pounds, and twenty/twenty vision. Everything looked good. Then, came the worst of it; the doctor's office.

Hikari sat on the exam table, feet dangling above the floor. As she looked around, trying to find a way to make this place a little less hellish, she spotted Mushra playing with a silver thing on the wall that dispensed black, cone-shaped objects that she assumed were arranged by different sizes.

Her eyes scanned over to his friend. The water Enterran had turned the sink on and was playing with the running water, transforming it into different translucent items; a flower, as dragon, a crown.

"Will you stop playing around?!" This isn't a playground," Binka glared at the two boys, who blinked at each other before turning back to their previous occupation. This infuriated the short-tempered human, who (being without her bazooka) held up a doctor's scalpel threateningly between them. "Get out of here before you break something!" she half shouted to two.

Not needing proof of the girl's threat, the two quickly and quietly excused themselves out into the hall where Kutall and the kittens waited. (Kutall felt the small office was too crowded so he waited outside the door.)

Hikari silently giggled at the two, erasing her anxiety for a moment, but soon it crept back to take a hold of her mind. Without the two as a distraction she thought about the dreaded place she was in and what might occur within the next hour. The small, immaculate room seemed cold and uninviting. The white starred at her from all around, foreboding and lifeless. The light above her blazed painfully bright, shining through her soul to find her deepest fears. The precise, stainless tools seemed to smirk at her with cruel thoughts circling through their lifeless bodies. This was the kind of room that had no emotion. It would watch on without a word as atrocious curiosities were carried out against its innocent inhabitants. It probably enjoyed the blood-curdling, inhuman screams that would never be heard past its thick walls, the blood that ran over its tile floor in thick waves of maroon only to be bleached out before the rising of the sun, and wild-frenzy in their murderer's cold, inquisitive eyes. _This _was a room that she did not want to be in lest the same fate befell her.

"Hikari," Yakumo called the frightened girl's attention to herself. Hikari quickly switched her concentration to the human sitting in the chair beside her table. "What's wrong? You're shaking all over."

"Ah, It's nothing!" she answered quickly with a casual wave of her hand. "It's just cold in here." She rubbed her arms for effect.

"You're cold?" Binka asked, pushing herself off the wall next to the door to move to the Enterran. She felt her arms. "Are you sure? It feels warm to me."

"Um, well, you see," she started, but was interrupted when a tall, reptilian Enterran in a white lab coat walked in.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Iguidox," he introduced himself in a calm, smooth voice. "I'll be your doctor for today. What, might I ask, is the reason I'm here for?"

"My friend, Hikari, needs to be looked at," Yakumo informed him, pointing out the girl, who froze on spot. "She had run into trouble and gotten herself hurt. I cleaned and bandaged the wounds, but we want to see if she has any risk of infection or not."

"You did the right thing by seeing a professional as soon as possible. Let's see if we can get her feeling like new." With this, he grinned at his patient, whose fear twisted the kind gesture into a sinister snarl.

"_I gotta get outta here!" _Hikari resolved in her head.

The next fifteen minutes involved poking, prodding, wincing, and 'did-that-hurt's. For about five minutes, Dr. Iguidox refused to believe her tiara wouldn't come off and that she was hiding a wound that may or may not be serious. After what seemed like forever of this, Hikari finally sat back down on the exam table, a little less scared of the amiable doctor; Dr. Iguidox left to scan over his data he collected. Within another quarter of an hour, he returned with papers and a few small bottles in his hands.

"Well, nothing life-threatening," he informed them as he laid the set of papers on the counter. He opened drawer and put on a pair of gloves while pulling out a plastic tube and thin, paper packet. "But she does need treatment or else it could be rather painful."

"What kind of treatment does she need?" Binka asked as he picked up a brown bottle he had brought in.

"It's nothing too big," he assured her. He pulled a long slender needle from the paper and attached it to the tube. "She just needs a shot."

Everything seemed to freeze with a sudden change of atmosphere. Everyone turned to the cause; Hikari could've been mistaken for a statue if it wasn't for the trembling that began to control her body, a deep sense of fear and danger hovered around her, almost tangible.

Wondering what was wrong, Dr. Iguidox studied her. After a moment of no change, he continued with his work, pushing the needle into the top of the bottle. He pulled on the handle, the pink liquid trickling into the tube. After it had reached the right amount, he put down the bottle and turned to his unmoving patient.

"Now this will boost your immunity to infection and diseases and will help your cells rebuild at a faster pace." He pulled from his pocket a rubber tourniquet and reached for her arm.

Suddenly, she jumped from the table. Moving fast for an injured girl, adrenaline fueled by terror, she made a dash for the door. She turned on her heels as she threw open the door and sprinted out.

CRASH!

"Wh-what hap- Hikari?" Mushra and Saago could be heard, confused, out in the hall. Hikari had run full force into Kutall's back as he headed off to look for a water fountain.

"Are you okay?" The kittens asked, worried.

"W-wall . . ." was the only thing that could be made out from Hikari's garbled speech. She slumped against Kutall's large back.

"Ouch, are you okay?" Kutall asked.

"N-not really," she admitted in a state of half-delirium.

"What happened?" Saago asked.

"She was about to get a shot, but she jumped up and ran for it," Binka told them as she entered the hallway.

"Hikari, you need the shot to get better. It only hurts for a second," Dr. Iguidox tried to explain to her.

"It hurts way longer than that!" she argued, trying to inch away but failed due to Kutall blocking her escape route.

"But you have to get it," Yakumo tried to reason with her in a soft, kind voice. She grabbed her hand gently and led her back to the white room and sat her down on the exam table, the white paper crackled as she sat.

"Now is that all?" Dr. Iquidox asked, holding up the daunting needle.

Hikari lightly nodded her head to answer, even though her eyes were wide with fright. "Yes sir."

He grabbed his rubber tourniquet again, tied it tightly around her upper arm, and cleaned an area of skin with an alcohol swab. As he reached for the needle, tears started streaming down her cheeks. She whimpered in fear, as she watched the needle. He moved toward her.

"Wait!" Yakumo, Hikari, and Dr. Iguidox turned to the door. Mushra entered, heading toward the two at the table.

"Yes?" the doctor inquired.

Mushra walked around the two to the arm that was receiving the shot and sat down next to her. He held out his hand next to hers. She looked away, even though she knew he had already seen her childish tears.

"Here," he offered, nudging her hand. "Squeeze." She looked up, into his sky eyes, fright apparent in her sapphire ones. "It's supposed to make it hurt less," he offered. She swallowed a lump in her throat and grasped his gloved hand. He gently squeezed her hand in reassurance.

The kind doctor smiled at the two. "Are you ready?" he asked her. Tightening her grip on Mushra's hand considerably, she quickly nodded and closed her eyes. She squeezed tighter as she imagined the needle moving closer and closer until it rested against her skin and-

"There!" the doctor proudly announced. Hikari opened her eyes, but not loosening her grip on Mushra's hand. In Dr. Iguidox's hand was the empty vial. She glanced at her arm. Upon finding the orange band-aid on her upper arm, she let go of Mushra's hand.

"Now be sure to take one of each every morning and one of these at night before bed." He instructed as he handed Yakumo three white bottles of medicine. "If you forget, the instructions are on the bottles."

"Thank you," Yakumo said as she took the bottles from him and put them into a small backpack she carried. "I'll be sure to make sure she takes them. So what do we owe you?"

"It's okay, Yakumo," Hikari offered. "I'll pay for it."

"No, no." Dr. Iguidox turned to the two females. "This is a charity hospital. The patients can pay if they feel the need or make an abundant amount of money, but most travelers aren't expected to pay. We believe if someone is hurt, they need help. Don't worry about the money," he smiled, "Especially since there's the festival going on."

"Wow, thank you!" Yakumo smiled.

The three met the others outside the door in the hallway. Everyone reassured Hikari with happy smiles. She felt a lot less horrible about how she acted.

As they walked outside, Mushra asked, "Was that so bad?" A wide grin spread across his face. Hikari smiled back.

"No, it wasn't. Thank you."

"It's what friends do. Besides," his voice rose playfully, "It's been a while since I defeated a crazy doctor and ruined his experiments."

"Really now?"

"Really!"

"Now when was this?"

"Well," he started in a reminiscent voice, "I was about 10 years old when this loony doctor came into town and tried to explain my hair."

"But you're Enterran!"

"That's what I kept trying to tell him. He didn't get Saago because of the helmet, darn him, but he tried almost everything to kidnap me. His first attempt was . . ."

The nine listened and laughed at Mushra's memories as they headed back toward the festival in the center of the bustling town.

**There. That's that chapter. Man, I HATE shots. I cry when I see that freakin needle! Anyways, idk when I'll get to the next one, but I'll try. (no promises, I'm a lazy arse.) **

**Thanks for reading and please review, **

**Mushraluvr**


End file.
